The song choice being, by default, Hercules' theme song of sorts was a great decision by Disney when the character is taken into consideration. I said in a previous write-up that the dynamic of the romance in this movie is unique in the Golden Era because Hercules is the one that is very awesome and whose standard casts a shadow. Meg has to make herself better in order to feel worthy of him, and I just think that was a great choice for the mythology that this is based on and it worked out extremely well. Hercules is selfless, unafraid of hard work, and both the theme of this song and the movie is courage.
Like Aladdin and love, courage is the primary motivation behind some of the movie's great moments and the opposite, cowardice, is what fuels the villain of the film. My favorite scene in the movie is when Hercules is in the river of death (unsure if it was referred to as The Styx) and desperately trying to reach Meg. It is perfectly heartbreaking as we see Hercules grow old before our eyes but even as his strength fades and his life is drained from him he never stops swimming. Think about that for a moment, by the time he reaches Meg he shouldn't have any of his godly strength left. He is frail and old, and yet he manages to fight off the torrent of the dead and keep persisting on. To keep moving forward. To go the distance for the woman he loves. He would not be denied because he does not know how to give up. It is amazing how the song and the climatic moment of this movie go so well together. Not every main character's song fits so well and I really always enjoyed it. It is loose though so I am unsure if they even intended it to work out like that or if I just noticed a coincidence, but if you listen to the lyrics of the song while watching the scene I think I am on to something here. A lot of the lines fit amazingly well.
I absolutely love Hades, he is such a dick. It is a shame he doesn't have a good villain song though. Phil is remarkable even though I wish he would have never sung a note. Meg is adorable, if a bit too conniving to start out. And Hercules... well, Herc is the man.
I am unsure where Hercules would be placed in my Disney rankings, that list might take more time to figure out than the song list did. I have seen the movie a ton though and it has held up perfectly after fifteen years.
Two final notes about the song before I wrap this up. The first is that my favorite line of the song which is brought back to light during the final scene: “for a hero's strength is measured by his heart.” So true, and Hercules is one hell of a hero. Secondly I am unsure if I said this previously, it has been a long and winding road, but after “Say the Word” I locked the rankings just so I wouldn't agonize over the decisions I had made and because a lot of these songs are very fluid depending on my mood. I know it is no solace, but if I was doing a ranking right now this song would be # 2 because it just got me over a very bad weekend.
I'll go the distance though, so it'll be alright =).
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http://firsthour.net/screenshots/suikoden-2/suikoden-2-luca-blight.JPG
The Cult of Personality.